Theatrical Stockholm hotel with ABBA connection and colorful, dramatic design
Hotel Backstage / Stockholm / Sweden
There is something about staying at a hotel in a city, a capital city even, where you can enjoy the feeling of staying in a small town, away from the noise and energy. This is the case with Backstage Hotel. It is located on the island, Royal Djurgården, in the centre of Stockholm. An old hunting ground for the Swedish royal family that is today a park where you’ll find several excellent museums, restaurants, entertainment venues and hotels.
Backstage Hotel, which used to be the Pop House Hotel, opened back in 2022. The soft launch took place in Summer and the official opening in September that same year. The Pop House Hotel was ABBA themed and when it was sold and later transformed into Backstage Hotel, some of that ABBA flair was washed away, although the spirits of the Swedish pop sensation are still floating around in the corridors. After all, the world-renown ABBA museum is housed in the same building.
The design of Backstage Hotel is dramatic. It is a vibrant mix of art, colorful design and music that makes for a very theatrical look and feel that explodes in your face already when you enter the hotel. Our room had some of that same kind of drama although toned down a little, where the colors were somewhat more muted and the energy a little calmer.
The hotel is made up of two buildings, a modern, sleek wood structure with floor-to-ceiling windows and an older one dating back to the 19th century. It is also here you’ll find Konsthallen, where breakfast is served for the hotel guests.
And a stay at Backstage, has to include a visit to the ABBA museum. It is almost mandatory. I mean, who doesn’t want to live out their flamboyant pop star fantasy.
The only way to arrive to the hotel is by boat (ok, not really, but it is for sure the best way). The Djurgården Ferry takes you across the water to the island of Royal Djurgården where the hotel is located.
Another way to arrive in style is with one of the vintage trams that stop just outside the hotel.
Welcome to Backstage Hotel with one older and one newer building.
The older part of the hotel also houses Konsthallen where breakfast is served.
The newer part of the hotel with massive floor-to-ceiling windows reflecting the cold Stockholm Winter sky.
The lobby sets the tone from the get go. A colorful, dramatic and bold design, far from the neutral Scandi-chic look of so many other hotel is in this part of the world.
Vivid colors, shapes, contemporary furniture and art. Basically, this hotel in a nut shell.
Heading up to our room. There is so much drama in the details, like these room signs, which I really like.
Some of that magic Winter light shining in through the windows making the colors of the hotel corridor come alive.
Our dark and cozy room.
The dark wooden floor is paired with bold colors and shapes and to top if off, some original art work.
Some ABBA memorabilia on the bed side table of our room.
The bathroom products in our room were from Swedish brand L:a Bruket, produced on the west coast of Sweden.
The breakfast is served in the older building also housing Konsthallen.
M is browsing through the morning paper while…
…enjoying a good cup of coffee. Backstage Hotel is one of those hotels that knows that most guests nowadays appreciates a proper cup.
Colors and shapes everywhere you look.
I think I am best as Agneta. Or what do you think? Who wore me best?
On Royal Djurgården there are so many great museums (and not just the ABBA one). This is the Nordic Museum, Sweden’s largest cultural history museum, well worth a visit.
This is another one of my favorite venues on Djurgården, Liljevalchs Art Museum.
The view from the hotel towards Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen as the sun sets over Stockholm.
RG inside info
This place is perfect if you…
…appreciate your urban hotel to be located in a calmer setting, close to nature while still having the big city around the corner (or a short boat ride away). If you like your design to be powerful, vibrant and theatrical, you are going to enjoy staying at Backstage Hotel.
My favorite thing about this place…
…is the unusual design. I always celebrate hotels that dare to be different. And maybe here they have been influenced by ABBAs dramatic costumes and they are the inspiration for the colorful design? Who knows! But what I do know is that it is unique, it works and I like it.
What not to miss when staying here…
…is of course the ABBA museum, if you haven’t already been. Otherwise I would suggest to take a long walk or run around the island and maybe stop for a Swedish fika at Rosendals Trädgårdar.
If you like this hotel you might also like…
Ellery Beach House, Stockholm, Sweden
Hotel Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Schlosshotel, Berlin, Germany
